The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1887-06-14
The Syndicate Comes to Grief;
the Corner Breaks.
ONE FIRMS LIABILITIES SAID To
BE ABOUT A MILLION.
From to t8 Cents In Eighteen Months Then to
~ In Two Weeks-Now on the Tumble
More Trouble Feared

Unt IhOSI eXtlIeI
limited space allowed for clerks and
customers in the exchange, at the
junction of Pearl and Beaver streets,
there was an excited throng, anxious to
reach brokers with orders or receive
from them the result of orders already
made, while around the ring almost
every broker outside of the bear clique
had orders. The buying orders to-day
generally came from Gruner and Cross
man & Company. These firms repre-
sented the clique which first started the
boom in coffee about eighteen months
ago. and caused it to advance from 8 to
IL cents per pound. At the latter
figure number of Rio Janeiro
operators, called the Brazilian party,
who had been bears on the market all
the way up to eighteen, changed their
position and became buyers and carried
the price up to twenty one cents, which
figure it crossed about two weeks ago.
They are now said to be loaded heavily
one house being reported to hold SOC, 900
bags for their account. The Gruner-
Crossman party, on the other hand, who
We're buyers to-day, are credited with un-
loading ON the Brazilians around the
highest figure.
The failure of Mackay & Small, promi-
nent coffee brokers of Water street, was
announced this afternoon. Mr.. Small
of this firm was formerly connected with
the Large coffee firm of Small Bros. 4
20 yyith hnucao in Nauy XnrG paIti-
more, Chicago and New Orleans. The
next failure was that of B. G.. Arnold &
Co. The failure of Arnold is supposed
to have been caused Chiefly by Inability
of Rio houses to remit margins in time.
Their liabilities is stated to be above one
million dollars, and q New York bank is
said to be heavily involved. The liabili-
ties of Mckay & Small are estimated
from $3.50, 900 to $500, 900.
Brokers acting for bull operators be-
came panic-stricken and rushed to sell
without regard to price. The bulls
blame the Gruner- Crossman syndicate
for starting the decline which culmin-
ated in to-day's panic, but the bear syn
dictate strained every nerve to check the
fall without success, In fact, syndi-
cate of brokers were the only buyers at
the opening which was at II cents per
pound, over one cent below Saturdays
close, and although rally was caused
by the bears supporting orders, rumors
of trouble and continued selling caused
them to stop buying, and join the bulls
in unloading the stuff they had taken
early. All through the forenoon the
selling was coupled with the widest
scenes ever witnessed on the exchange,
and in all the offices there We're knots of
brokers gathered discussing the pros
poets of recovery.
In the afternoon there was the same
hope of a rally, but the heavy selling
continued and soon the price fell off in
heavy fluctuations, until it reached fif-
teen cents per pound. This decline was
accompanied by notice of the s,lspen-
sion of three firms: B. G.. Arnold & Co,
Norton, Weyl & Bevan. and Mackay &
Small. After the announcement of these
failures an organized effort was made by
prominent houses like O'Donohue, Cru
and they succeeded in causing rally of
about one cent all round.
The failure of II. G.. Arnold & Co. at
tracted the most attention, as they are
the most prominent house in the trade,
but it was generally anticipated. The
1882 by the collapse of one of
the largest deals ever attempted in cof-
fee, and was compelled to suspend
for over million dollars. He started
in business again, however, and was
successful in all his ventures. On Au-
gust 1, last, he formed partnership
with his son and since then they have done
strictly commission business. He as
cribes the failure to fact that his custo-
mers Were SO far away that it was i'm
possible to reach them in time to obtain
sufficient magin to meet the decline.
He conld make no statement of his liza
bilities, and said he could not say any
about the chances of resuming. Out
siders claim that the firm has been car
rying five hundred thousand bags of
coffee for the Rio Janeiro operators.
known as the Brazilian party. and it is
estimated that the habilit les will amount
to over a million dollars,
The extreme decline for the past two
weeks as from 81 30 two weeks ago, to
fifteen cents to-day. or over st cents per
pound. There was some talk of trouble
in banking circles, as a result of the pan
ic, but as the bank only loaned fifty per
cent. on the market value of coffee it is
hard To see how any of them could have
been involved.
Mackay & Small, one of the suspended
firms, are supposed to have liabilities of
$500, 900. The liabilities of the other
firms are small. Norton, Weyl & Bevan
state chat their suspension was due to
the existing depression in prices, aug
mented by the failure of firms in the
trade Mackay & Small say that their
stoppage is in no wise due to the fact of
their being long" of the market. AS
commission men their transactions run
both ways and they may be regarded as
being both long and short at same time,
and losing both ways. The inability of
their clients to put up marginal funds
quick enough, rendered it impossible for
them to meet the demands of the mar